Ken Waters, Ann Smith face off second time for District 6 council seat

Occupation: Duke Power distribution engineer specialist; chief master sergeant for the Air Force National Guard

Education: some associate degree courses and military education courses

Ann Smith

Age: 63

Family: Married, four children

Occupation: Insurance agent and small business owner

Education: Securities license training and insurance courses, some courses at Tri-County Technical College

An Anderson County Council incumbent and his challenger each pledge to stand behind whatever the Powdersville and Piedmont residents decide about a proposed hospitality tax.

Council member Ken Waters and petition candidate Ann Smith each said they could see the benefits of having a 2-cent hospitality tax in their area but also see how another tax could harm already-struggling residents.

Waters and Smith said they would listen to what residents have to say about it at community meetings and take the consensus as their own.

The two are vying for the District 6 seat, in the fastest-growing part of the county. It includes Powdersville and Piedmont.

Waters, who was elected in 2010, said he now has a record for voters to judge him.

"I've been very conservative and I've worked well with other people," he said. "In my first campaign I wanted to get jobs and I have worked with council and the economic development department to get jobs."

He said 400 jobs have been brought to his district and he expects to double that number by the end of summer 2013.

Smith said she is running because Waters does not assert himself enough for the residents in the district.

"He doesn't say enough, he doesn't push enough and he has to be told what to do," Smith said. "I don't. I'm a very independent woman."

She said she would not vote for wasteful projects and would focus on adding small-business development in addition to large-industry recruitment efforts.

"We need to look at small businesses and what we're doing for the mom-and-pop shops," Smith said. "I'm an insurance agent and I've seen companies go quickly from 10, 20 employees to 300. We need to help them do that."

Smith pursued a lawsuit that failed to halt construction and opening of a landfill in the district and she lost a bid for council against Waters in 2010.

She said she's learned and now acts earlier to get things done.

Smith is one of more than 200 candidates who were disqualified from the primary ballot this year over filing issues.

She says she is a firm conservative and Republican. Her name will appear on the ballot as a petition candidate, and she urged voters to skip party-line voting.

Waters is the Republican nominee.

Waters said he worked to save money on a county 911 center after it was struck by lightning and rebuilt with insurance money. Smith said Waters was pushed into approving an emergency operations center, separate from the 911 center, that is on the second floor of a leased building belonging to Duke Power. She said Waters, an employee of Duke, also failed to recuse himself from the vote.

Waters said he is not pushed around, but does his homework before council meetings, which he sees as chances to vote up or down rather than a time to make a decision.

Smith owns Employee Benefit Solutions in Easley and has worked as an insurance agent for 25 years.

Waters is a distribution engineer specialist for Duke Power and is a chief master sergeant for the Air Force National Guard. He is set to retire from the Guard in May, when he will have served in the military for 33 years.

Waters said he did not want to talk about the county's lawsuit against former administrator Joey Preston. The lawsuit was begun before Waters went on the council and he has voted to continue it.

Smith said the cost of the $2.3 million lawsuit could have given employees raises and she would not have supported it.

"I'm a leader, not a follower," she said. "I will not wait for something to happen. I will make it happen."

Waters said people know what they're getting with him.

"I think council has worked together on a lot of issues," he said. "I want people to know what they're choosing."